1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer apparatus that holds a recording medium wound in a roll and that prints on the recording medium and particularly, to a printer apparatus that has a near-end detecting unit detecting that the amount of recording medium that remains is a given amount or less.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among printers that print on a recording medium wound in a roll are those facilitating simplification of recording medium replacement by employing a configuration that does not axially support a core part of the recording medium but rather supports the recording medium from below.
Meanwhile, as a so-called near-end detecting mechanism detecting that the amount of recording medium that remains is a given amount or less, a conventional printer, such as that recited in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-213553, has a rolled paper loading mechanism that includes, for example, a rolled paper loading unit loaded with a roll of recording paper having a core, a near-end detecting unit detecting that the amount remaining of the roll of recording paper loaded in the loading unit is a given amount or less, a front opening of the rolled paper loading unit, and a rolled paper cover covering the front opening in a state enabling the opening and closing of the front opening. When the roll of recording paper becomes smaller and the near-end detecting unit lowers the position of the core, in the rolled paper loading mechanism having a detection lever that is inserted in the core, a height adjusting unit adjusts the attached height of the detecting lever with respect to the rolled paper loading unit and an indicator unit indicates the relative heights of the detecting lever and the rolled paper loading unit. The indicating unit has a mark formed at the rolled paper loading unit and a mark formed at the detecting lever. These marks are formed at a position that is visible from the front opening.
Further as a near-end sensing mechanism, for example, in a rolled paper remaining amount detecting unit for detecting the remaining amount of rolled paper housed in a paper housing unit, a paper-remaining-amount detector/adjusting member is provided in a movable manner with respect to the paper housing unit and includes a paper detecting unit that detects whether there is rolled paper and a nail unit for positioning the paper detecting unit at multiple positions; and a notch that is formed in the paper housing unit and engages with the nail unit to set the position of the paper-remaining-amount detector/adjusting member. (See, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-2296)
Here, without using the function of near end detection, some users of the printer may determine the amount remaining of a recording medium wound in a roll by viewing a marking provided at an end portion (the starting portion of the winding) of the recording medium. In this case, the detection and notification of the near end executed by the printer are rather troublesome and therefore, the near end detecting function may be deactivated.
As described, for the conventional technologies recited in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-213553 or in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-2296, in order to deactivate the near-end detecting function at a circuit level, for example, a dip switch disposed on a circuit board must be operated to deactivate the near-end detecting function, or to deactivate the near-end detecting function through software control, keys on an operation panel have to be manipulated to change software settings. Nonetheless, in order to operate the dip switch, a cover enabling access to the circuit board disposed in the printer must first be opened. Furthermore, in order to operate the keys on the operation panel to change the software settings, the user must refer to the instruction manual while searching through various menu layers for the items to be set, making inactivation of the near-end detecting function troublesome.
As a countermeasure, although it is conceivable to dispose a dedicated operation key for activating and deactivating the near-end detecting function, a problem arises in that the disposal of a dedicated operation key increases cost.
To solve the problems associated with conventional technologies above, an object of the present invention is to provide a highly versatile printer apparatus enabling easy deactivation of a near-end detecting function by a simple mechanism.